Verizon and Motorola's strong marketing push leading up to the launch of the new Droid handset had a significant impact on brand perception in the 18- to 34-year-old target demographic, pushing it well above AT&T, according to a study released Monday.

Daily tracking from YouGov's BrandIndex shows that scores associated with the Verizon Wireless brand have soared since the Droid advertising campaign launched on Oct. 18, up until the launch of the Droid last Friday. Verizon's score went from 8.3 to 24.2 on the study's scale, which ranges from -100 to 100.

During the same frame, AT&T's brand perception dropped, from 1.4 on Oct. 18 to -2.4 by Nov. 6. The ongoing study surveys 5,000 people each weekday from a representative U.S. population sample. More than 1.2 million people are interviewed each year, and the research is said to have a margin of error of +/- 2 percent.

Respondents in the target 18- to 34-year-old demographic were asked the question, "Would you recommend the brand to a friend?" While AT&T and Verizon were comparable in the latter half of October, Verizon pulled well ahead of the second-largest wireless carrier come November, leading up to the debut of the Motorola Droid.

The latest study follows a tough summer for AT&T, when overall consumer perception dropped significantly following the launch of the iPhone 3GS. That change was likely at least partially attributed, BrandIndex said, to AT&T's inability to meet bandwidth needs on its network following the launch of Apple's latest handset.

The Droid launched Friday to positive reviews. Building up to its release, a series of advertisements targeted Apple's iPhone, making claims of shortcomings with the tagline "iDon't."

In addition, Verizon has stepped up its advertising against the AT&T network, lampooning the iPhone "There's an app for that" phrase with the slogan "There's a map for that." Last week, AT&T filed a lawsuit over the advertisements, claiming that Verizon is misrepresenting its coverage areas and misleading consumers.

Wow- that was fast. The cellphone market is extremely fickle.
Verizon was extremely smart to buy all that baseball playoffs and World Series coverage.

I don't think it's fickleness so much as it is people fed up with AT&T service and word is starting to get around. I know for myself if the iPhone was announced as being available on Verizon I would jump ship that day.

Makes sense, they do have more 3G coverage and their ads express this fact very well. There are inherent limitations, like speed compared to AT&T’s 3G network and simultaneous voice and data, and even places where AT&T’s EDGE is faster than Verizon’s EVDO, but that isn’t something that the average consumer is going to understand. They’re doing a great job increasing mindshare with both their network and the Droid.

Dick Applebaum on whether the iPad is a personal computer: "BTW, I am posting this from my iPad pc while sitting on the throne... personal enough for you?"

I don't think it's fickleness so much as it is people fed up with AT&T service and word is starting to get around. I know for myself if the iPhone was announced as being available on Verizon I would jump ship that day.

I'm not sure that I would. AT&T Service around here is pretty good. I guess proximity is everything.....that and a flat terrain (no hills, no valleys, no tall buildings).

The only reason I stick with AT&T is so that I can upgrade to the iPhone. Even then, the coverage is so terrible so I've often contemplated just getting an Ipod touch and jumping ship.

Well I had a Verizon phone and a Touch for one year and can vouch that having the iPhone alone is much better. Looking for hot spots was maddening not to mention carrying 2 devices. Think about it. AT&T has made some gains in their coverage after all.

This is another wake up call for AT&T. They don't seem to be getting the message for a lot of consumers. Here in Houston, I'm quite satisfied and have noticed that in some places, 7.2 Mbps has been rolled out. I don't ever plan to jump ship when Big Red offers the iPhone, unless there is a cost savings. Of course the $350 termination charge would also make me think twice.

Well I had a Verizon phone and a Touch for one year and can vouch that having the iPhone alone is much better. Looking for hot spots was maddening not to mention carrying 2 devices. Think about it. AT&T has made some gains in their coverage after all.

AT&T has definitely made gains in my area. When I originally bought the iPhone 3G a year ago this past July, there was no 3G here in north-western Jersey so I returned it and returned to Verizon. By this past February (when I bought the iPhone again), a little over 6 months later, I had full 3G inside my house and everywhere I go. Like I said in the other thread, I hope Verizon gets the iPhone 3rd quarter 2010 as is rumored. Then, a bunch of AT&T's iPhone customers will jump ship and return to Verizon balancing out the load on the network (in theory anyway).

While this may be correct of consumer sentiment, it's not really set in stone until the product ships. People need to get their hands on the device, and create a "product sentiment" - it's no good saying that a network is great if there are no decent devices that run on it. So it'll be telling when we find out how customers perceive the Droid after a good 3 months to gauge product sentiment.

After all, we all know how the Pre was hyped but fell off a cliff in sales. It was good in concept but had very little backing in reality.

Verizon advertising is so inconsistent. There is the nerdy guy with the network crowd, then the super industrial deconstruction images of the Droid, to the 'map for that' ads. The branding is not reenforced in any of the different scenarios as opposed to Apple where the brand is always instantly recognizable, which gets you much more bang for your buck.

After 5GB they start charging 5¢/MB which comes out to $50/GB. AT&T technically could do the same per your contract, but so far have allowed for actual unlimited data on their network.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Woode

How much more of news like this till Apple kicks AT&T exclusivity to the curb?

Seeing as how they are under contract and the contract likely ends come July I dont see that happening. When Apple does branch out in the US, the easy money would be on adding the wonky 1700MHz UMTS spectrum to the iPhone so that it can work with T-Mobile. Both AT&T can T-Mobile would bend over for the iPhone and Verizon has publicly bashed the iPhone and I doubt Apple would want to make a CDMA-based iPhone to have double stock in their stores or use a hybrid chip which may be larger use more power and also require Apple to pay Qualcomm 5.5% of their gross profit regardless of the carrier it runs on, from what Im told. Plus, they already have a relationship with T-Mobiles parent corporation in Europe.

Dick Applebaum on whether the iPad is a personal computer: "BTW, I am posting this from my iPad pc while sitting on the throne... personal enough for you?"

This is another wake up call for AT&T. They don't seem to be getting the message for a lot of consumers. Here in Houston, I'm quite satisfied and have noticed that in some places, 7.2 Mbps has been rolled out. I don't ever plan to jump ship when Big Red offers the iPhone, unless there is a cost savings. Of course the $350 termination charge would also make me think twice.

How can I tell if I'm on the 7.2mbps speed? I don't know about VZ but when I call ATT I actually speak with someone in the US which was a big difference when I left Sprint. That $350 termination fee is quite the bear trap. Ouch. At least on ATT we are getting Skype soon.

In a world of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.

While this may be correct of consumer sentiment, it's not really set in stone until the product ships. People need to get their hands on the device, and create a "product sentiment" - it's no good saying that a network is great if there are no decent devices that run on it. So it'll be telling when we find out how customers perceive the Droid after a good 3 months to gauge product sentiment.

After all, we all know how the Pre was hyped but fell off a cliff in sales. It was good in concept but had very little backing in reality.

The Android platform is quite different then the Pre in many ways. First of all, Motorola released in in time for the holiday season but after the iPhone buzz had dropped for the year. Palm released the Pre foolishly right before the 3GS hit. Its like stepping in puddle just to turn around and see a tidal wave rushing your way.

Then they had no public SDK ready and when they did release it it was complete shite. It still is. Google started with Java and now have a proper development platform with the NDK to push them into the future. They also have over 10k apps for the Droids launch.

I fully expect to see a lot of Android-based devices cannibalizing the cheaper smartphones. While these phones will be mostly compared to the iPhone, theyll be eating up the non-iPhone and non-Blackberry devices currently on the market. WinMo is in serious trouble here.

Dick Applebaum on whether the iPad is a personal computer: "BTW, I am posting this from my iPad pc while sitting on the throne... personal enough for you?"

AT&T has definitely made gains in my area. When I originally bought the iPhone 3G a year ago this past July, there was no 3G here in north-western Jersey so I returned it and returned to Verizon. By this past February (when I bought the iPhone again), a little over 6 months later, I had full 3G inside my house and everywhere I go. Like I said in the other thread, I hope Verizon gets the iPhone 3rd quarter 2010 as is rumored. Then, a bunch of AT&T's iPhone customers will jump ship and return to Verizon balancing out the load on the network (in theory anyway).

I got mine in July and it's been decent. Occasionally it will drop a call or they won't connect after rising out of the subway. My battery does go down fairly quick but not sure if it's due to AT&T fetching me data and making the phone wait or just general use.

How can I tell if I'm on the 7.2mbps speed? I don't know about VZ but when I call ATT I actually speak with someone in the US which was a big difference when I left Sprint. That $350 termination fee is quite the bear trap. Ouch. At least on ATT we are getting Skype soon.

While this may be correct of consumer sentiment, it's not really set in stone until the product ships. People need to get their hands on the device, and create a "product sentiment" - it's no good saying that a network is great if there are no decent devices that run on it. So it'll be telling when we find out how customers perceive the Droid after a good 3 months to gauge product sentiment.

After all, we all know how the Pre was hyped but fell off a cliff in sales. It was good in concept but had very little backing in reality.

This isn't about the Droid. This is about the overall public perception of Verizon and AT&T as companies, not any specific offerings they have, although, those may surely affect the perception, but that isn't what's being measured.

AT&T has been taking body blows to their reputation for some time now, and I'm sure the Verizon, "There's a map for that," adds haven't helped them either. They seriously need to do something (like build their network out, and start treating their customers better) that does not involve Seth the Blogger Guy to salvage their reputation, though, and they need to get started on it yesterday.

Well Houston is on the list of cities to have it rolled out first before the end of the year. Using speedtest, a few weeks ago I was getting between 1 and 1.4 mbps download speeds, with the upload being capped at 200k or so. Now in some spots I am getting speeds of 2.5 Mbps. Perhaps I should have said I assume, not for sure.

Verizon clearly has the better network overall and their recent advertising has really driven that point home. However, it will be interesting to see what impact a successful launch of these data devices will have on their network.

Well I had a Verizon phone and a Touch for one year and can vouch that having the iPhone alone is much better. Looking for hot spots was maddening not to mention carrying 2 devices. Think about it. AT&T has made some gains in their coverage after all.

I just haven't seen a significant lack of network like I keep hearing about. However, when I had Verizon I never got any calls when in my office building & service inside my house was terrible. That all changed when I switched.

EDGE works just fine most of the time for me, & since I get AT&T's wifi free everywhere I go I am never far from a hotspot.

By the way, got hands on with a Droid phone today, wow is Google's touch interface ever crappy! It is about as responsive as dirt, have to multi tap everything for anything to come up. Sorry, but for me the hardware & available software has made the iPhone a killer deal for me, I have never come up short on network yet & enduring a little EDGE here & there has not been a deal breaker at all.

Most don't know what it is and I doubt many are that interested in it. It's no iPhone, that's for sure.

You can piss on AT&T all you like, but as long as they've got the iPhone, that's where people are headed. AT&T's brand perception has been in the basement for a while now, yet despite that, it's been iPhone iPhone iPhone! One big party over at AT&T. And unless Verizon gets the iPhone or has a REAL competitor to it, things won't really change. Consumers have been more than willing to make a deal with the AT&T devil to get the iPhone. That won't change because some carrier tells them they shouldn't.

Most don't know what it is and I doubt many are that interested in it. It's no iPhone, that's for sure.

You can piss on AT&T all you like, but as long as they've got the iPhone, that's where people are headed. AT&T's brand perception has been in the basement for a while now, yet despite that, it's been iPhone iPhone iPhone! One big party over at AT&T. And unless Verizon gets the iPhone or has a REAL competitor to it, things won't really change. Consumers have been more than willing to make a deal with the AT&T devil to get the iPhone. That won't change because some carrier tells them they shouldn't.

Agree.

It is also interesting that AT&T has such 'low' perceptions while the iPhone satisfaction surveys are at the extreme 'highly' satisfied end and the Droid is receiving virtually little interest.

It would seem to indicate that the majority of iPhone users are more than satisfied with AT&T and those that don't have an iPhone are not. Just like most of the trolls here.

Does AT&T have a list of rollouts for 7.2Mbps and for 850Mhz spectrum upgrades?

Perhaps this will help.

Quote:

AT&T* today announced details of its rollout plans for High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) 7.2 technology, which will provide a considerable speed boost to what is already the nation’s fastest 3G mobile broadband network.

Supporting this HSPA 7.2 initiative is AT&T’s ongoing deployment of additional backhaul capacity to cell sites. These backhaul connections add critical capacity to the network to support today’s unprecedented growth in mobile data traffic as well as the future demands of next-generation 4G networks.

AT&T plans to begin deployment of HSPA 7.2 in six major U.S. cities, including Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and Miami, with initial service availability expected in these markets by the end of the year. All told, the company plans to deploy HSPA 7.2 in 25 of the nation’s 30 largest markets by the end of 2010, and to reach about 90 percent of its existing 3G network footprint with HSPA 7.2 by the end of 2011.

What a lot of people have forgotten is that one of the conditions that AT&T got exclusivity was their commitment to expanding and improving their 3G network and at the same time reducing their data charges. Seems that they are keeping up side. Just takes time and a lot of cash.

While I am extremely happy with AT&T's service and have been for several years, and I travel very regularly with my iPhone 3G between Seattle, Spokane, San Francisco, Las Vegas and Phoenix, it is AT&T's own fault for allowing themselves to be in this vulnerable situation of being attacked with an aggressive ad campaign. They knew that their "3G" coverage was not near as good as VZ's. They should have been on the attack with a campaign to offset their weaknesses. Their weakness was lack of coverage, not speed of the system. Their ad campaigns are about "The fastest 3G system in the land". Increasing speed is not going to offset the perception that you can't get coverage most of the US,

I don't think it's fickleness so much as it is people fed up with AT&T service and word is starting to get around. I know for myself if the iPhone was announced as being available on Verizon I would jump ship that day.

It's fickleness.

I wonder how many of those 18 - 34 year old demographics voted for Obama's slick marketing last year, and although he "holds" a 50+% likability rating, he was unable to save the Democratic bastion governorship of New Jersey from going over to the Republicans despite having visited the state like 5 times, two within two weeks of the election and recorded a robo-call message to the people of New Jersey. Obama supporters of last year didn't come out this year despite Obamas pleas to help keep Democrats in power to help with all that "Change"! It's just fickleness of the voter. Next election, they'll be PO'd at the Republican and vote a Democrat in. It's not necessarily the message than just no core values amongst the voters nowadays! It's what's in it for them. \

Ten years ago, we had Steve Jobs, Bob Hope and Johnny Cash. Today we have no Jobs, no Hope and no Cash.

So does that make Verizon Ford or GM? Because if it's GM, I'm not sure I would want to go with them, either.

Verizon's not much better, apparently. Seems most carriers in the US fail in one way or another.

I can't relate, though. I'm with Rogers up here in Canada and there's never a problem. And if I whine a bit now and then I get a reduction on my bill or a credit that moves certain charges into later months. Rogers isn't the cheapest, but the service has always been problem free - wireless, internet, you name it.

Most don't know what it is and I doubt many are that interested in it. It's no iPhone, that's for sure.

You can piss on AT&T all you like, but as long as they've got the iPhone, that's where people are headed. AT&T's brand perception has been in the basement for a while now, yet despite that, it's been iPhone iPhone iPhone! One big party over at AT&T. And unless Verizon gets the iPhone or has a REAL competitor to it, things won't really change. Consumers have been more than willing to make a deal with the AT&T devil to get the iPhone. That won't change because some carrier tells them they shouldn't.

Agree.

Of course I have experienced dropped calls, yes, even more than I care for, but guess what, I just shrug my shoulders and try again. Certainly no reason to jump ship to join a company that has no proven record of being able to handle the data load of millions of data hungry smart phones. Oh, and I do want to be able to check a web site while talking on the phone!

AT&T is not perfect but likely good enough for 99% of its customers, even without the iPhone they are the second largest mobile phone company in the US.

I just hope that AT&T have learned from Apple during the few years that they have been partners. If so, they're certainly not going to go nuts over some perceived values.